Debt-Ridden Chinese Conglomerate HNA to Get Chinese Regime’s Support for Fundraising

Debt-Ridden Chinese Conglomerate HNA to Get Chinese Regime’s Support for Fundraising
The HNA logo is seen on a building in Beijing on February 18, 2016. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images)
Reuters
6/18/2018
Updated:
6/19/2018

China’s top leaders have agreed to help debt-laden conglomerate HNA raise funds, Bloomberg reported on June 15, citing people familiar with the matter.

A senior official at the People’s Bank of China on Tuesday led a meeting with three regulators, the Hainan provincial government, HNA’s co-chairman Chen Feng, and the company’s biggest creditor, asking the attendees to support HNA’s future bond issues, Bloomberg reported.

The meeting also included representatives from Chinese central authorities and China Development Bank, a state-affiliated bank.

HNA faces about $93 billion in debt, according to Bloomberg.

In order to relieve some of its debt, the Chinese aviation-to-financial services has been unloading assets and its stakes in companies such as Hilton Worldwide, Park Hotels & Resorts, and Spain’s NH Hotels as part of a wider reorganization. It sold nearly $15 billion worth of its real estate properties, according to Bloomberg.

Central authorities have asked HNA to stop diversifying via acquisitions and focus on its main travel business, the report said. HNA and several other major Chinese conglomerates were in the Chinese regime’s crosshairs last June as it sought to curb high-risk financial investments and capital outflows.

HNA had more than $50 billion worth of global M&A (mergers and acquisitions) deals over the years 2016 and 2017.

Sources close to the central authorities told The Epoch Times at the time that the sweep was part of the current leadership’s attempts to clean out corruption in China’s finance industry. Founder of Tomorrow Group, Xiao Jianhua, and Wu Xiaohui, former chairman of Anbang, an insurance conglomerate, were both placed under investigation last year. Wu has since been sentenced to 18 years in prison for fraud and embezzlement.

Chinese top leaders determined that HNA was unlike Anbang Insurance Group Co. and Tomorrow Group, according to the Bloomberg report, citing the anonymous sources. It was not clear how exactly HNA differed from them.

HNA was not immediately available for comment.

From Reuters. Epoch Times staff member Annie Wu contributed to this report.